


for crying out loud (settle down)

by cabeyoreyes



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: Dinah is a little shit that loves causing trouble, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 17:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13012533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabeyoreyes/pseuds/cabeyoreyes
Summary: “Okay, fine, but its only because Lauren and Camila do not deserve that title. Ally and I have been together since we were in diapers, they’ve only been together since the start of the year!”“Bish please.” Dinah laughed, crossing her arms as well. “If anything, that makes them even hotter. Y’all have been hottest couple since freshman year, what difference does it make if you don’t win this year?”“Exactly! We’ve won three years in a row! We deserve it!”Dinah sighed loudly and dramatically, in a way only Dinah Jane would and rolled her eyes. “Alright look, I wasn’t gonna tell you this but if you really wanna win,” she handed over a flyer for the prom. “if y’all win prom queen, you’ll win hottest couple.”-Lauren and Normani compete for hottest couple in the yearbook. Chaos ensues.





	for crying out loud (settle down)

“New news on the yearbook front,” Dinah hummed, sitting herself down in between her four friends in the cafeteria and placing down a few draft pages of the new 2017 Miami Palmetto Senior High School year book. “We have the hottest couple of the year narrowed down, nearly.”

Normani reached over and picked up one of the pages, jaw dropping in offense at the picture that stared back at her. “Wait, Camila and Lauren are Hottest Couple?!” she exclaimed as Ally leaned over her shoulder to get a good look.

“We are?” Lauren questioned in surprise, stretching over and grabbing the page to look over.

“Aw, thanks DJ!” Camila beamed at her best friend, looking down at the page in her girlfriend’s hands. “That’s so sweet.”

Normani scowled from across the table, gripping the bench she was sitting on until her knuckles turned white. “Were Ally and I even considered? What the hell Dinah?”

Ally frowned, gently prying Normani’s hand off the bench and taking it into both her hands to soothe her. “I agree, I think we’re pretty hot, DJ.”

“Well obviously not as hot as Camz and I,” Lauren countered, waving the yearbook page tauntingly with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Dinah merely shrugged, stealing the plate of cheese fries off Camila’s tray and indulging, mumbling through a full mouth, “Aye, don’t blame me, blame the student body. They’ve been voting for Camren.”

Camila was too delighted at this news to really care that Dinah just jacked her food, cooing happily. “Aw, we got fans babe!” She threw her arms around her girlfriend’s neck and planted a big kiss onto a laughing Lauren’s cheek.

Normani scoffed in irritation at that, glaring at the giggling couple across from her. “Fuck you and your fans!” she shot up from the bench and grabbed her bag. “C’mon Ally!”

The short girl watched bewildered as her girlfriend grabbed her hand; with her free one she managed to grab her own backpack before Normani pulled her up from her seat. “Where are we going?”

“To get more fans!” and with that she dragged Ally out of the cafeteria in an angry fit.

“Well, someone’s upset they got second place,” Lauren goaded, smiling at the giggle her girlfriend let out.

\--

“Hi, I’d like to join the yearbook committee.” Normani smiled sweetly at the shaggy haired boy sitting on the computer working on a draft.

Harry looked up, blinking in surprise at the sickly-sweet smile she was giving him. He looked around him for a moment before looking back at Normani. “Uh, you’re talking to me?”

Normani raised an eyebrow, glancing around the empty room. “Well... yeah, you’re the only one here.”

“Oh, yeah, I am. Well ah, you’ll need to talk to the president of the committee first.” Harry explained, leaning back in his chair and spinning slightly from left to right.

“Okay, well who’s that?”

“Dinah Jane.”

\--

“Come on Dinah! You’re my best friend, help a sista’ out!”

Dinah rolled her eyes as she moved about the yearbook committee’s office with Normani hot on her heels like a puppy dog, handing out flyers for the senior prom with reminders to get good photos. “Gurl you know I would if I could but we’re full! ‘Sides, I know you just wanna join to make Ally and you hottest couple and I do not condone cheating asses.”

Normani scoffed, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “C’mon, I wouldn’t do that.” At the eye roll and raised eyebrow Dinah gave her, she faltered with a glare, stomping her foot. “Okay, fine, but its only because Lauren and Camila do not deserve that title. Ally and I have been together since we were in diapers, they’ve only been together since the start of the year!”

“Bish please.” Dinah laughed, crossing her arms as well. “If anything, that makes them even hotter. Y’all have been hottest couple since freshman year, what difference does it make if you don’t win this year?”

“Exactly! We’ve won three years in a row! We deserve it!”

Dinah sighed loudly and dramatically, in a way only Dinah Jane would and rolled her eyes. “Alright look, I wasn’t gonna tell you this but if you really wanna win,” she handed over a flyer for the prom. “if y’all win prom queen, you’ll win hottest couple.”

Normani slowly smirked, looking at the flyer in her hands. “Interesting.”

\--

“Vote Wisely – Choose Normally?” Lauren read out loud, staring at the huge poster of Ally kissing Normani’s cheek lovingly with VOTE WISELY – CHOOSE NORMALLY written in bold print. “Is she serious?”

Camila tilted her head to the side, studying the poster, humming. “I think it’s cute.” An idea seemed to appear in her head because her eyes suddenly widened and she began to squeal, tugging on her girlfriend’s arm in excitement. “Oh my God babe! We should make one! We need a slogan!”

Lauren pursed her lips, eyes narrowing at the advertisement. “What’s this even for? Are they seriously campaigning for hottest couple in the yearbook?”

“Would you really be surprised, though? I mean... It’s Normani.” Camila reminded her, raising her eyebrow.

Lauren saw a shaggy head bopping through the halls and swiftly called out to it. “Yo, Horan!”

Niall turned around at the sound of his name and spotted his two friends before walking over with a smile. “Heya guys. What’s up?”

“You’re Dinah’s boyfriend, so you’d know something about this.” Lauren began, motioning to the poster in front of them. “What is this?”

Niall examined the poster and smiled, adjusting the backpack on his shoulder. “Oh, yeah. Ally and Normani are running for prom queens so they can win hottest couple in the yearbook.”

Lauren’s face went dark for a moment, scowling. “What?”

“Oh no.” Camila sighed, knowing where this was going.

\--

“See, this picture says “aw, they’re so cute, they’ve been together so long!” but this one just screams “oh they’re totally hottest couple.”” Normani held up two posters, showing her girlfriend who sat examining both photos from her bed. In her right hand hung a collage of photos of herself and Ally from the start of their friendships at age two to their current ages, seventeen. In her left, hung a photo of the two of them last summer at Knotts Berry Farm right after getting off a waterslide, hugging tightly while their wet clothes clung to their bodies.

Ally examined the second with furrowed eyebrows. “I... don’t think they’ll allow that picture to be hung up in school.”

“Yeah, well—” Normani was cut off when she heard a loud crack against her window, jumping in shock. They watched with wide eyes as a yellow substance dripped down the glass and fell, right before two more of its kind hit the window once more.

The two scrambled from their spots to run to the egged window, gasping when they saw the culprit in her car.

“ITS ON, BITCHES!” Lauren screamed from the driver’s seat as Normani opened the window to get a better look at her. She threw up her middle finger before speeding down the street.

“LAUREN!” Camila practically shouted from the passenger seat beside her girlfriend, her jaw slack and her eyes disbelieving. “You told me we were going to get ice cream! Not to egg our best friend’s house!”

“We are!” Lauren exclaimed just as loudly, her eyes flicking back and forth from the road to her angry girlfriend. “Right now! I just had to do that, Camz!”

Camila allowed a withering glare to grace her features, crossing her arms with a scowl trained at the dark-haired girl. “I am not going to get ice cream with this Lauren.”

Lauren sighed heavily, a pout forming on her lips. “Camzi, we need to win this. Do you really want them to win again and have Normani’s head get even bigger? Its already bigger than her ass! Hell, its bigger than your ass!” She seemed to regret her choice of words when the glare only strengthened, and quickly tried to placate her girlfriend with a sweet smile.

“It’s a very nice ass, though, baby.”

The smaller Cuban only held her glare for another few seconds, staring angrily at the stop lights in front of them. “You know, I was going to agree with you, but now, I’m seriously considering voting for them.”

Lauren let out a loud offended gasp, her eyes wide in betrayal. “You wouldn’t.”

Camila glared back, her brown eyes like steel. “I would. Now, take me to get ice cream. Or I’ll get down from this car right now and walk.”

Knowing her girlfriend, and knowing she would never willingly walk two miles, even for ice cream, Lauren had to fight the urge to snort, only lowering her head and mumbling a low, “Yes Camz,” and complying.

\--

Normani sat in her third period history class on mid Monday morning, her eyes drooping closed and her head lolling forwards as her teacher went on with her power point lecture. She couldn’t help it; the woman was speaking in such a monotone voice and it was dark and hella warm in the classroom. She woke up with a jolt when her chin slipped off her hand and her face almost crashed into the desk. Good thing too, she was this close to poking her eye out with the pen in her other hand.

Lauren on the other hand, was passed out cold beside her. She was laying cheek down on their shared desk, facing Normani, who rolled her eyes and tried her best to pay attention, biting down on her pen to stay awake.

That’s when she had an epiphany, and her face slowly resembled that of the Grinch when he acquired a particularly evil idea.

~

Camila was a sneezing, sniffling, coughing mess. Her nose was as red as Rudolph’s, and her eyes were so watery she couldn’t keep her contacts in. She pushed her glasses up her nose for the hundredth time that afternoon, sniffling as she paused her guitar playing to write down more lyrics.

Lauren pushed open her bedroom door and gave her sick girlfriend a wide smile, skipping over to her on the bed, arms full of a brown paper bag, a medium Starbucks cup, and what Camila presumed to be her homework. “Hi baby! I brought your homework, which I may have already done for you during lunch. I also brought you two bananas, a vanilla latte, with extra vanilla and extra love, and a donut.” She leaned down and kissed the younger Cuban’s nose, pausing when she pulled back and saw the dumbfounded look on her face. “What?”

Camila stared at her with her jaw slacked, eyes wide. “Uh…”

“Is it my shirt?” Lauren cut her off, beaming proudly. She straightened her back to properly show off the shirt that she worked very hard on. Four pictures of herself and Camila was sitting directly in the middle.

In all of them, Camila had her arms wrapped around the taller girl. The first, both were making funny faces, the second, Camila was kissing her cheek while Lauren grinned happily, in the third she looked annoyed, but still had Camila’s lips against her cheek, and the fourth they both smiled at the camera. In bold letters above and below the photo, stood out the words;

DON’T BE DELUSIONAL – VOTE CAMREN

Camila’s gaze dropped to her shirt and her eyes seemed to widen even more.

“I’ve been getting so much attention fro m it.” Lauren smirked smugly, seeming not to notice the horrified look on her girlfriend’s face. “See, I was thinking, what would get more attention than just posters and fliers? T-shirts! I’ve ordered a ton of these already, we can give them out at school when they’re delivered.”

Camila stayed silent as she fumbled for her phone as Lauren explained her strategy, and quickly snapped a photo of her mid-talk, turning the screen towards her.

Lauren paused in confusion, staring at her own picture.

Her face was covered in ink.

She was sporting a badly drawn mustache and goatee duo, while above, a few squiggly lines connected her eyebrows into a unibrow.

On her forehead, in neat, pretty handwriting, mocking her, read:

Normani Kordei, much love

Much lower, Lauren noticed, fuming as her face turned red, her shirt was vandalized as well.

⌄ DONT

DON’T BE DELUSIONAL – VOTE CAMREN

If she were a cartoon, Camila observed silently, steam would be coming out of Lauren’s ears and nostrils at that very moment. She jumped up off her bed and stormed down the hall to the bathroom to wash her face. As she thundered away, Camila caught a glimpse of the back of her shirt and tried not to snort too loudly at the writing, as to not anger her girlfriend anymore.

VOTE WISELY – CHOOSE NORMALLY

Camila couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh as she shot off the photo along with a text to Ally.

Camila: this has got to end.

Almost immediately, she got a response.

Allysun: oh lord. please don’t tell me mani did that.

Allysun: nevermind. saw the signature.

Allysun: we have to do something.

\--

This is how the rest of the week goes:

On Tuesday, Lauren retaliates to Normani’s little prank by plastering pictures of embarrassing photos she’s collected of Normani over the years all over the school.

Wednesday goes like this;

They’re once again in Mrs. Thompson’s history class, sitting rigidly next to each other at their shared desk. Normani shifts in her seat once, glances at the opened water bottle standing between them, and with all the grace in the world, picks it up, and dumps it into Lauren’s lap.

She shoots her hand into the air as Lauren gasps in disbelief beside her, wearing an innocent and concerned expression on her face. “Mrs. Thompson! Lauren seemed to have an accident over here, I think she needs to go to the lost and found to get a new pair of pants.”

Mrs. Thompson gazes at Lauren sympathetically, and Normani uses all the acting skills she’s gathered not to grin at the glare the green-eyed girl sends her as she leaves the classroom with the hall pass.

Thursday finds Lauren coming to school extra early to superglue a collage of her and Camila to every surface of Normani’s locker, taking extra care to finish it over with varnish, making the photos smooth, shiny, glossy, and impossible to take off.

Normani seethes when she sees it, glaring at Lauren who stands a few feet away with a shit eating grin on her face, waving innocently. With an angry snarl, Normani attempts to rip it off. She manages to get one photo off, but all that does is uncover another, and she finds the one she does rip off, sticks to her hand.

Superglue.

Lauren’s loud and delighted laughter follows her all the way down to the nurses’ office, Ally scurrying after her.

By Friday, Camila and Ally are sick and tired of their girlfriends’ immature and childish actions and decide to take matters into their own hands.

(What’s more, Lauren’s impromptu face tattoo hadn’t faded.)

\--

They schedule a sleepover at Dinah’s for that Saturday, in an attempt to try and smooth things over between Lauren and Normani, with the insincere promise that the other girl won’t be there.

In retrospect, they should’ve taken to account that Lauren and Normani are not the type of girls to stay quiet and not speak their minds.

Naturally, as soon as the two saw each other, it was a disaster. It was a screaming match from the get-go.

(“What is she doing here?!” - “Me?! I could ask you the same question!” – “Oh fuck off, Hamilton—” “Oh don’t you tell me to fuck off, Jauregui—” - “Camz!” - “Ally!”)

Eventually, they get them both to calm themselves, and sit down on opposite sides of the living room.

Ally stands between the two, almost hesitant to begin speaking, before clearing her throat. “Okay, Lauren, why don’t you start talking first?”

Lauren lets out a huff, crossing her arms and giving her former best friend her back. “Alright, fine. I think this is completely unjustified, we were winning hottest couple fair and square, and Normani just—” she paused, noticing the mocking faces Normani was making behind her in the TV, “Do you think I can’t see you in the TV set?”

Ally sighed loudly as Normani rolled her eyes and crossed her arms childishly. “Alright, Mani, if there’s something you would like to say-”

“You had no right to egg my house!”

“Me?! You’re the one who turned this into a competition!”

“Oh, that is the most ridiculous –”

Camila and Ally looked at each other wearily as the two jumped from their seats and met in the middle of the living room.

Dinah excitedly whipped her phone out and began filming.

“Ridiculous?! What’s ridiculous is you-”

“Would you let me speak?!” Normani snapped, raising her hand and flicking Lauren’s forehead, stunning her into silence.

Lauren stared at her, dumbfounded. Red flashed in her eyes as she narrowed them. “Did you just flick me?!”

Letting out a breath, Normani tried to explain, “Well, you wouldn’t let me finish, so I was just-“ FLICK. Her eyes widened and swiftly turned angry. “Ow - that - hurt!” FLICK.

“Quit - flicking!” FLICK.

“OW! You - quit - flicking!” FLICK.

“OW! You –FLICK- flicked –FLICK- me first!” FLICK.

Dinah laughed heartily as the flicking continued, and began whooping in excitement when it quickly turned into a physical fight, yelling, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as they began smacking each other.

Normani managed to tackle Lauren to the ground and began beating her with her own sock, all of them ignoring Ally’s, “Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!”

Getting fed up, Ally yelled over their screams. “-Okay, now I’m gonna kick some ass!” She reached down into the scuffle, managing to grab them both by their ears and pulling them apart from each other.

“Ow!” “Ouch!” “Ow, ow, ow!”

Ally let out a long breath, standing on top of the coffee table in order to hold onto both their ears as they stood. “Alright! Now, I will let go, if you both stop!” She tightened her hold on them both when they attempted to start screaming again, which quickly shut them up.

“Okay, fine!”

“Alright, Okay!”

Ally smiled in obvious delight, gently letting go of them and patting them on their heads. “There we go. Yknow, if we were in prison, you guys would be like, my bitches.”

“I thought Mani was already your bitch!” Dinah’s voice boomed from behind her phone, her face grinning widely as Normani rolled her eyes.

Lauren breathed deeply, rubbing at her sore ear as she shot daggers at Normani, jaw clenching. “I don’t know what Ally has to do with it, but Normani sure is a bitch.”

Normani’s eyes flashed with anger, glaring back heatedly. “Oh, you really wanna go there, Jaguar?”

“I think I do, Norman.” Lauren spat, breathing heavily and gently swatting at a fussing Camila as she tried to clean a scratch on her temple given to her by Normani.

“Alright, you wanna play, Jargooey? Let’s play.” In a swift move, Normani tugged Lauren’s cardigan right off from around her, and began to tug on one of its buttons, sending Lauren into a rage. “You wanna play?”

Lauren seethed angrily and quickly looked around herself for something to overpower Normani with. “Okay. Fine. Fine. Let’s play.” She dove for the sofa, where Normani’s brown well-loved and tattered teddy bear sat, and moved toward the lit fireplace, holding it over the fire threateningly.

Normani’s eyes narrowed, her hold on the button tightening as her heart began to beat faster in her ribcage. “What are you gonna do?” She hoped she didn’t sound as terrified as she was. That bear was a gift from Ally for their one year anniversary, all the way back in eighth grade.

“You give me back my sweater, or we’re having a bear roast.” Lauren breathed deeply, eyes shining almost evilly as she held the bear by its paw.

“You don’t have the guts.” Normani puffed, eyes flitting from the bear to Lauren.

“Oh, really?” She dropped the bear lower, causing a gasp to ripple through the small group of girls as the flames just barely licked a paw.

Normani screamed loudly, aggressively pulling on a thread on Lauren’s sweater as payback. This resulted in Lauren letting out a scream of her own and dropping the bear into the fire, which ensued in Normani letting out another scream of terror, dropping the sweater and desperately grabbing a bottle of water from the coffee and dumping it into the fire, barely managing to get her bear out of the flames, as it was still lit.

“MR. BEAR-BEAR!”

She ran through the house, screaming all the while, and jumped into Dinah’s pool in the back to salvage it, not noticing Lauren running after her and attempting to take the bear back.

They splashed and flopped around in the pool, both gripping the bear and screaming at each other angrily, as Ally, Camila, and a still laughing and filming Dinah ran after them.

“STOP IT, STOP THE MADNESS!” Camila’s loud shriek stilled the splashing, and they floated in the water breathlessly, staring up at the typically calm girl in disbelief. “Can’t you see what’s happening?! This is crazy!” she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “Look at the bear! Look at Lauren’s face!” Normani and Lauren slowly turned to look at each other, almost shamefully. “Look at yourselves.”

Lauren swallowed thickly, feeling the guilt of what she did to Normani’s prized possession, glancing down at it. “I’ll uhm... I’ll help you fix Mr. Bear-Bear.”

Normani sniffled, hugging the bear against her chest as they swam to the edge. “I…I’ll help you wash your face.”

They gave each other small, tense smiles as Camila and Ally helped wrap them both in towels, Dinah’s giggles the only sound cutting the silence around them.

“That was gold, y’all.”

\--

Although the war between them finally ended, the air between Lauren and Normani was still tense, as both of them were still deep in competition with each other over Prom Queen.

Nobody was more relieved than Ally and Camila were that the night finally arrived, and that this stupid rivalry would soon end between their girlfriends, and all would be back to normal. At that point, neither of them cared for winning “Hottest Couple” or “Prom Queens”. They just wanted it to be over and done with.

The two gave each other bright smiles as they entered their school’s gymnasium turned ballroom for the evening, dragging their respective girlfriends to each other to say hi. “Oh my Gosh, they actually did such an amazing job in here,” Ally gushed, leaning into Normani as she took in the romantic atmosphere around them.

It might have been a generic “night under the stars”, but they had to admit, the prom committee had done an astonishing job transforming the gym. The ceiling sparkled with tiny lights acting as stars. In one corner, a large beautifully painted moon hung high, with gold steel stars suspended all around them. Fairy lights donned the walls accompanying white curtains, and tables of six littered the ground. Mason jars filled with smaller fairy lights sat at each seat, and buffet tables lined the walls. There was almost a fog along the floor as well, creating the illusion of walking in the clouds.

Camila beamed, tightening her hold on Lauren’s arm as she grinned in agreement. “I know, for once I don’t feel like I’m in our stinky and sweaty gym. They really did a wonderful job.”

An awkward silence followed as Normani and Lauren glowered at each other, refusing to be friendly. Camila rolled her eyes and elbowed her girlfriend in the stomach, glaring at her.

Lauren puffed at the pressure, clenching her jaw and keeping her eyes cold as she faked a smile. “Normani.”

At the pinch on her arm from Ally, Normani let out a strained, “Lauren.” In response.

Dinah came practically bouncing over to them, looking stunning in her tightfitting black dress, dragging her boyfriend and date for the night, Niall, behind her. “Hey y’all! Are you excited to finally find out the winners?” She smirked almost mischievously, and if she weren’t Dinah, they would think she was up to something.

“I’m more eager to end this thing.” Ally sighed heavily, shaking her head. “This has been absolute hell.” She glanced toward Camila as she let out a snort of agreement.

“Hell? What’chu talking about? This has been the most entertaining few weeks of my life.” Dinah laughed cheerfully. “I’m sad to see it end, but I’m excited to see who wins.”

“When do we find out, anyway?” Camila asked with a frown.

Dinah paused, checking the time on her phone. “Uhm. We’re supposed to find out any minute now, actually. We’d better move closer to the stage, just in case.” She winked, tugging Niall closer to the makeshift stage eagerly.

Normani made eye contact with Lauren, giving her a self-righteous smirk as she wrapped an arm around Ally’s waist, ready to accompany her to the stage. “May the best woman win.”

Lauren scowled, tightening her hold around Camila as the couple sauntered away. “Ugh, I can’t wait to rub our win in her face.”

Camila rolled her eyes in exasperation as she followed the green-eyed girl to the stage, lacing their fingers together. “How are you so sure we’re going to win, Lo? They have as much of a shot of winning as we do.”

Lauren looked at her, dumbfounded. “Are you joking? You heard Dinah. The student body voted for us as hottest couple. Normani is just bitter that she and Ally are old news. There’s no way we’re not winning.”

The younger Cuban opened her mouth to reply to her girlfriend’s logic, but was interrupted by their principal’s booming voice through the speakers, and turned to pay attention to the stage.

“Class of 2017, welcome to your senior prom. The night I know many of you have been waiting for.” He beamed broadly as the class in front of him cheered and clapped boisterously, chuckling. He lifted a hand, asking for silence as one of his students brought him an ivory envelope that Normani and Lauren eyed hungrily, impatient to know its contents.

“Now, for the moment I know you’ve really been waiting for. Your prom royalty,” pausing to open the envelope, Dinah, Normani, Ally, Lauren and Camila all held their breaths as he announced. “Your 2017 Palmetto High Prom Royalty are…”

“Dinah Jane Hansen and Niall Horan!”

A loud whoop was heard from the audience from Dinah, and an angry “what?!” from a dumbfounded Normani and Lauren, as she rushed up to the stage with Niall to accept her tiara.

Lauren and Normani looked on with their jaws dropped in shock. Even Ally and Camila were stunned into silence. When had Dinah even been in the running in the first place? They hadn’t seen her campaigning for the past few weeks as they had. There were no posters of her and Niall hanging around the school. No t-shirts being handed out. No promises being made. How had this happened?

That is exactly what Normani and Lauren demanded to know as Dinah stepped off the stage and was cornered by her four friends. “What the fuck Dinah?!” “How did this happen?!”

“You weren’t even running.” Lauren argued, aggravated.

Dinah grinned mischievously, adjusting the crown atop her head as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, gripping Niall’s arm. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Lauser. You two were so busy with your little competition, you didn’t even realize my mastermind plan.”

“What plan?” Ally frowned, a little peeved herself. Sure, she was definitely annoyed with Normani and Lauren’s childish ways, but truthfully, she did want to win.

Dinah laughed. “It all started weeks ago, that I put my strategy into motion. Y’see, I very ingeniously planted that mock-up yearbook page in your hands at lunch. I knew Normani’s competitive ass would go ballistic if she found out that you two weren’t going to be hottest couple in the yearbook for the fourth year running and do whatever she could to get it.”

“I also knew that Lauren, while she’s just as competitive, wouldn’t actually do anything about it until something provoked her. So, I gave Normani the nudge she needed, by telling her if she won prom queen, she would win the spot in the yearbook. I knew she would do something to provoke Lauren, and thus, your war began, causing y’all to look crazy and stupid to everyone else, and making me the only sane one of the group, and have them all vote for me. And now here we are.” She completed her story smugly as they all stared at her, astonished.

“You’re evil.” Camila exhaled.

Dinah tsked, holding her finger up with a raised eyebrow. “Evil genius, Walz. Don’t forget the genius.”

“No, just plain evil.” Normani retorted, infuriated. “I cannot believe you would do that.”

“I can’t believe she was smart enough to do that.” Camila mumbled, still processing everything she had told them.

“Wait a second.” Lauren held up her finger, “You are president of the yearbook. You can’t make yourself and Niall hottest couple. So, who won that?”

“Yeah! What was the point of even creating this whole mess if you could’ve won prom queen without it?” Normani agreed.

Dinah grinned, raising her eyebrow. “You see, that’s where the genius comes in. All three of us were in the running for prom. However, you two were getting more votes than Niall and me. So, by telling you about the yearbook, I got y’all out of the running by making everyone think you were wack. And to answer your question, there was no real competition in the first place. Mani and Ally are hottest couple.” She shrugged. “People love all that sappy, been together for years, ish.”

Normani whooped in excitement, punching the air and jumping up in her heels all the while gathering Ally in her arms, hugging her tightly and pressing a long, deep kiss against her lips in her excitement, not that Ally seemed to mind.

Lauren stared in stunned silence, turning to Dinah with a deep scowl. “I’m going to kill you, Hansen.”

Dinah smiled sweetly, eyes sparkling. “Can’t kill what you can’t catch.” With that, she took off running out of the gym, with surprising swiftness for someone in four inch heels and tight dress.

“That’s cute,” Lauren laughed watching her all the while reaching down and slipping her heels off. “she seems to forget I’m captain of the softball team.” With a sweet kiss to Camila’s cheek, she takes off, running after her.


End file.
